Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Roxas would be mine. Evil laughter.
Warning: shounen-ai, AU
A/N: Well, I wanted to write something with Roxas and Axel in it. Can't say that I like this piece though. But I hope you enjoy reading it.
Many weird things have been happening to him. Those weird beings in the white jumpsuits attacking him and stealing pictures of him, the key-like weapon that always materializes in his hand…Roxas didn't how to make sense out of it.
But the strangest thing so far was that time kept stopping for him and only him. There were moments when time stopped and he was the only one who was able to move. He tried telling his friends, but Hayner, Pence and Olette wouldn't believe him, saying that maybe he was just having weird dreams because summer vacation was almost ending.
Still, Roxas knew that he had not dreamed all those stuff up. One day, he noticed there was someone following him. He had been on his way to the Usual Spot from his house when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure in a dark black robe flitting behind a building the moment Roxas turned around.
And that wasn't the only time Roxas noticed the black figure either. He didn't know if there was just one black figure or several black figures stalking. But no one in Twilight Town had ever seen them before. Roxas had no inkling hwhat the black figure looked like behind the black hood hid the face so well.
So Roxas thought if he just continued to ignore them, they would go away eventually. But they did not. One day, Hayner, Pence and Olette felt too tired to do anything so they were just lounging in the Usual Spot. Roxas had offered to go buy them some ice cream.
On his way to the ice-cream parlor, he saw the black figure again. His annoyance shot up to an all maximum. He turned and shouted to where he assumed the black figure was hiding. "Come out! I know you're there? Why are you following me? What do you want?"
After a few moments silence, the black figure emerged. "Hmm, I wasn't planning on showing myself to you just yet. But turns out you're sharper than I thought."
"No, I'm not," snapped Roxas. "It was plain obvious that you were stalking me."
"Did anyone else notice me?" asked the figure. Roxas realized that nobody else did. The figure 'hmph'ed. "That means you're sharp." The figure lifted his hands and pulled off his hood, revealing a sharp face dotted with two bright green eyes tinted with mischief. Two upside down triangles were painted under the green eyes. If those weren't striking enough then his fiery red explosive hair would definitely catch attention.
The redhead smirked. "It's been a long time, Roxas."
"Who are you?"
"So, you really…don't remember, huh?" The redhead's eyes drooped, showing disappointment. "And here I thought that there was no way…no way you'd forget about me. It's me, Roxas. It's Axel. You should've got it memorized by now."
"Axel?" asked Roxas. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
Axel muttered something under his breath but Roxas could've sworn he said something like, "Fuck you, DiZ." He sighed and unzipped his black robe. Underneath the robe were some casual clothes. Draping the robe over his arm, Axel beckoned to Roxas. "Come on. You were going to get some ice-cream, right?"
Roxas looked at Axel warily. Axel rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you or anything. Not now, anyway." Roxas still didn't look convinced. "Look, come with me or I'll tell everyone you like animal plushies."
Roxas' eyes widened. How did this red-haired freak know that?
Axel's smirked. "So are you coming or not?"
Roxas quickly scampered to Axel's side, throwing the taller man a dirty glare. "Yeah, glare all you want," said Axel. "I know you love me."
"You wish," muttered Roxas darkly. At this, Axel snapped his head towards Roxas. Just now…just now Roxas almost seemed like…no it was impossible. Roxas' memories were erased. Just like Xemnas had said.
They reached the ice-cream parlor. Roxas got four bars of sea-salt ice cream for his friends and himself while Axel got himself some cranberry ice cream. Roxas learned that Axel took off his black-as-death robe so as not to attract attention since no one in Twilight Town wore full black.
Roxas wanted to hurry back and give the ice cream to his friends before it melted but Axel used some magic to ice-freeze the cold desert so that it wouldn't melt for quite some time. (Um, well, let's just say that Organization members can do some small magic that isn't their main element.)
It was obvious that Axel wanted more time with Roxas. So they sat on the stairs leading towards the Sandlot, licking their ice cream slowly.
"I don't get it," said Roxas. "Why are you following me?"
Axel chuckled darkly. "Boy, this sure is hard. This town is DiZ's creation. And he wouldn't want us to meet so he'd probably do something but our boss, Xemnas, probably did something to mess up with DiZ's system so I have more time with you now."
"Wait, our boss? What do you mean by 'our'? And who is DiZ anyway?" asked Roxas, getting more and more confused by the minute.
"DiZ is the guy who created this town," said Axel, licking indifferently even as Roxas looked shocked. "Yup. This is a simulated town, made for one purpose."
"And what is that purpose?" Roxas asked even as he had a feeling that he didn't want to know.
"Hiding you," said Axel.
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"Why?"
Axel had already finished his ice cream and he burned the Popsicle stick with some fire he conjured in his hand. "Probably no one had told you yet…but you are like me. You and I are Nobodies."
"Nobodies," repeated Roxas.
"Yeah. Nobodies are created when someone with a strong will or heart gets captured by the darkness of his heart and is turned into a Heartless. Imagine this: a person's heart is captured by darkness and that heart forms a Heartless. But the body of the person is left behind like an empty shell. That shell becomes a Nobody. That is what I am. That is what you are."
"S-so, I'm an empty shell of somebody else?"
Axel nodded. "You are one of the powerful Nobodies that exist. Common Nobodies don't even have human forms. You, me and eleven other powerful Nobodies make up a group called Organization XIII. Our boss is Xemnas."
"Wait, how come I don't remember any of this?" asked Roxas.
"Well," started Axel. "You went against the organization. And then you ran. Somehow, DiZ got to you before we did and erased your memories. He created this world to hide you from us."
"Why would he do something like that for me?"
Axel sighed. "It's not you who he cares about, Roxas. It's your original being. The one whom you belong to. You are the Nobody of the chosen wielder of the Keyblade, the one who is destined to save the world."
"Wait, if they need this chosen wielder, why chase me?"
"You…are half of him. All Nobodies are. Without you, they can't awaken him. They will force you to merge with him. And once you do that, you will disappear."
Roxas thought that Axel was joking. Joking about the Nobodies and the Organization XIII. And people don't just disappear. They just don't.
"We are not people, Roxas. We are Nobodies. We are not meant to exist."
Not meant to exist? What was that supposed to mean?
"But, I still don't get it. Why are you following me?"
"I'm supposed to bring you back to the Organization. But it's too tiresome to explain, man. You got me explaining everything to you and now I'm thirsty," whined Axel.
Roxas didn't understand Axel. One moment he was all serious, and now he was whining like a kid. "Fine, just tell me this. Why did I go against the organization?"
Axel put his hand to his chin. "Well, you see, your main weapon was a Keyblade. And that was strange in itself cause only those who are chosen can wield Keyblades. So you wanted to know why a Nobody like you was chosen. I wanted to stop you, man. Anyone who went against the Organization would be destroyed."
Some silence as Roxas licked on his cold treat thoughtfully. Then he looked at Axel. "So why didn't you?"
"Hmm?" Axel cocked his head to the side. "Why didn't I what?"
"Why didn't you stop me?"
The five words resonated in Axel's head, covering the place where his heart should be with guilt. He looked away, not daring to meet Roxas' eyes. He propped up his knees and leant his crossed arms on them. "You wanted to know the truth. The truth about your existence, the truth about Nobodies."
Axel gathered to courage to peek at Roxas from the corner of his eyes. "And I didn't want to stop you from doing what you wanted. You have never listened to me, never will, I think. You and I had this one-sided love relationship. And you weren't the one in love."
When Roxas finally realized what Axel meant, he looked away quickly, blush dusting his cheeks. What the? All of a sudden, this guy whom he had just met tells him that he was in love with him!
"Axel," said Roxas, still not looking at the pyromaniac. "If my original person is the chosen keyblade wielder, then who is your original person, Axel?"
The redhead raised both eyebrows. He had never been asked this question before. He scratched his head. "Hmm, I don't really remember. All I know is that he's been killed in Heartless form. Yours managed to revert back into a human."
Roxas looked at the other ice creams he was supposed to give to Hayner, Pence and Olette. They would be wondering where he was. He stood up and dusted his pants. "Come on, take off the freezing spell you put on the ice cream."
Axel undid the spell reluctantly, knowing that this meant Roxas was going to leave.
But Roxas had one more question for him. "Did you really love me?"
Axel froze. What was the purpose of this question? Axel closed the distance between him and the blonde, swooping down to capture Roxas' face in his hands. "Nobodies will eventually disappear when all their energy is used. There was a time when I thought I was going to die for loving you. And I thought that I wouldn't mind dying like that. Do you get it?"
Since Axel was taller, Roxas had to look up to properly look at the man's face. But now that Axel's face was so close…Roxas stood on his tiptoes, effectively lifting himself enough to kiss Axel, on the lips.
Axel released the Roxas' face, shocked by what had just happened. Roxas cast him a meaningful look before turning away to leave. But Axel wasn't letting him go just like that. He grabbed Roxas' hand and pulled the blond into another kiss, this one more passionate and heated.
Roxas felt Axel's tongue sweeping over his lips, asking permission to enter. He parted his lips slightly but had not expected the full-blown assault on his mouth as Axel proceeded to fully ravish him with his tongue.
He moaned, slowly wrapping his arms around the pyro. Before it could proceed to something else, Axel dropped him. "You taste like salt," he said.
Roxas offered a small smile. "You taste like cranberry. …Bye Axel…"
"Yeah. You got it memorized," he said with a trace of a smile. He disappeared in black wisps of smoke. Roxas went back to the Usual Spot where his friends berated him about the time he took just to get some ice cream. Roxas apologized sheepishly.
"Roxas, why are your lips so swollen?" asked Olette out of the blue.
"Yeah, what did you do? Kiss someone?" asked Pence teasingly.
Roxas blushed to the roots of his hair, not knowing what to say.
"Omigod! He did kiss someone!" exclaimed Hayner. "Who was it? Was it someone from our school?"
"An idiot who'd liked me for some time now," murmured Roxas, wishing that they'd get off the subject, "and with no idea that I liked him too." The memories were returning.
A/N: I just love Roxas, don't you?
